Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1887-05-18
MIXED RELATIONSHIP.
Marvellous Hccentricitias Develop
in the Delaware Peninsula
An Old Section OF the Country Where
Families Have Intermarried for More
Than Century-Some MatrI-
monial Puzzles to BE Solved.
Wilmington Dei) Cor Chicago Her.,s,

mOnlAA RuZZleS to lie Solved.
Wilmington Del) Cor. Chicago HeraIdl
The spectacle of man who is his own
grandfather is rare, but when this man is
also his own brother-in-law he becomes a
very interesting example of the eccen.
tricities that may be developed in family
relationships. That human being can
get into such paradoxical relation to his
own family appears singular to people
who have never lived in the Peninsula and
who know nothing of the habits of the in.
habitants of that long-settled aud highly
respectable tract Of country lying be-
tween the Delaware and the Chesapeake
bays.
The jewellers in this sock-shaped coun-
try have internarried among themselves
to much greater extent than have the
people in any OF the New England States.
Delaware and the eastern shore of Mary
land have contributed less to Westward
emigration than any other States An in
finitesimal proportion of the natives Of the
peninsula have gone 10 nearby cities &c
seek their fortunes; the great remainder
1--we and die where they were born. Curl
Gus instances OF the results Of protracted
intermarriages are constantly coming up.
The most striking example is furnished
ing the cid name OF Smith, living near
Barnard's Wharf, on the road leading tc
Cambridge. Barnard's Wharf is stop
ping place for the Ericsson propellers that
ply between Baltimore and Philadelphia,
through the Delaware a. Chesapeake
canal The present head CT the family,
Mark Smith, is the father of half dozen
boys. Mark Smith, his father, Jonathan
Smith, who came from England, and Mork
Smiths sons, Tedrick and Samuel, all
married sisters. The women were the
daughters of George Hurlbut, who for
merly lived near Barnard's Wharf, but
who now resides near Chestertown. on
the road to Tolchostor Beach. Mark
Smiths wife died ten years ago, leaving
no children. Mark then married his
fathers widow. She had been his fathers
second wife and was only Marks STEP
mother. She had daughter by William
L. Tilgham. After she had borne Smith
a child he was divorced from her, where
upon she was welded to Huribut, the
father Of Smiths first wife. She has had
a child by Hurlbut. To further compli-
cate matters, Samuel Smiths wife died
and he married Tilgham's sister, who was
a sister to Hurlbut's wife. The climax
was reached when Tedrick Smiths son,
Jonathan, married the daughter that his
grandfather's second wife had previously
borne by William L. Tilgham. Was there
ever moro mixed up familyi
The most conspicuous instance, socially,
OF long series of intermarriages is that
of the great powder manufacturers, the
Du Pont de Nemours family. This family,
Of Hugeonot extraction, has been settled
in and around Wilmington for generations.
Collectively speaking the Du Pont de
Nemours family owns so, 900, 900 worth of
property. Much of these vast possessions
are held in common, and upon the death of
member what he used as his share is di-
vided up among the rest. In marriage, as
well as in moneymaking, the Du Points are
close corporation. Rarely have
they ever gone further away
from the blood than cousin
for wife, and the Du Pont strain is as
pure as that of Kentucky thoroughbred.
1t would take profound thought on the
part Of skilled genealogist to figure out
the exact relations that the present gen.
Grafton of Du Points bears to one another.
OF late years, however, the young women
of the family have manifested a DISPOSE
ton to go outside for husbands.
The intermarryIng has been carried on
on systematic sea lie at the lower end OF
the peninsula. The Dashien family and
the Handy family and the Jones family, in
Somerset County, Nd, are so mixed
up that their family trees are absolutely
indecipherable. All three families are
socially distinguished and have con-
tributed many men of mark TO the profess
sions. Judge Handy is n member of the
Maryland Court of Appeals, John II.
Handy is a prominent lawyer of Balti-
more, and every Methodist in the country
will remember Rev. Dr. Dashiell, the late
church dedicato-, who was as great as
Chaplain McCabe in his way. The younger
members of the Jones aud DashicH fami-
lies are more mixed than the Handys.
There is one of the Dashiclls, lawyer,
who is his own first cousin as well as his
own brother-in-law. Another of the
Dashiells Is his fathers half brother,
while another is his wife's brother-in-law.
One of the youthful scions Of the house of
Jones, who lives in Baltimore. has been
figured out 10 DO his own father The ad-
vantage of being ones own father will
be Immediately apparent to every reader.
Another curious case is that of the
Moore and Brown families, in Kent County,
by the marriage into both families of q
lady named Rash. She had two daughters
who were also first cousins. How delight
full it Is to have irst cousin FOR a sister,
A third daughter of this lady is an aunt to
one of her sisters and a cousin to the
other, while her two sisters are aunts as
well as cousins to her own child This
married sister, whose maiden name was
Moore, married her cousin. She is, there
fore, her child's aunt as well as its moth
er. Her Cousins wife was also her cousin.
Living near Beaver Dam, or as it is call
ed low, Ingleside, in Queen Anne County,
Md, arc two brothers, Thomas George
Roberts and Charles " Use Roberts. They
came from the State of Ohio, where each
had married sisters. These sisters were
first cousins to the father Of the Roberts
boys, and their mother had been divorced
from the elder Roberts. She had had her
daughters by Roberts first cousin, whose
name was Silver, and Silver, in turn, was
a cousin to Roberts mother The mother
of the wives of the Roberts boys was a
steprnother to the boys, and their own
mother was also their fathers cousin. In
this case the elder Roberts was not only a
father-in-law to his sons wives, but he
was also their uncle and their stepfather
Their own mother was also their own
cousin, and they are cousins as well as sis
ters to each other. These people ara
bound together almost as unanimously
and multitudinously as Mark Smith and
his sons, and the marvel is that there has
never been a crossing of the blood nearer
than the first cousin, although in many
instances the relationship appears to be
much closer.
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A Critics knowledge of Music.